Improvement in mechanism for operating the shuttle-boxes in looms



strat ARGIIIBALI) jNIMMo, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNsIrLvANIA, AssIcNon. fro

HIMSELF AND THOMAS" MORAN. 0F SAME PLACE.

4 1 Lena-'s Pacman. 97,679, (rampa-anbei 7,1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN'MECHANISM FOR OPERATING THE SHUTTLE-BOXES IN LOMKS.

The Schedule referred to in'ithese Letters Patent and making part of the same.

Toall whom it may cozrtcern: i l

Be it known that I, ARCHIBALD Nimm, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain` Improvements in-Drop-Box,Looms; and I d hereby declare the following to beafull, clear, and exact description of the same.

` `scribed hereafter, to he applied to drop-box looms, for

the purpose of` producing long patterns.

In order toenable others skilled inthe art to make and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, which formsa -part of this specification, and in .whiohf Figure 1,',sheet 1, is a side view of part of the frame of aploom, or 'of a frameadjacent to that of the loom,

` with my improvements;

Figure 2, a sectional view; Figure 3, sheet 2, a plan view of fig. 1; v

Figures 4 and 5, detached views, illustrating parts of my invention;

` Figures 6 and 7,iviews, illustrating amoditication of `tnyinvention; `and. j

Figures 8, 9, and l0,` sheet 3, diagrams, illustrating the operation of a certain reversible pawl, referred to hereafter.

4In ligs. 1,12, 3, 4, and have illustrated my invention as connected with the most simple drop-boxmechanism, that is, the ordinary star-wheel G, figs. 1 and 3, the action of which, in raising a drop-boxfor two` shuttles, and permitting the same tofall, is too well understood by those skilled in the art to need description. i i

It should be understood inthe outset, however, that 4 my invention can be applied to any drop-bmVv mechanism, and, in fact can be made to act onf the boxes directly, as will be more fully explained hereafter, the

star-wheel being introduced for the purpose of illus@ trating my invention, and not as forming part. of' the same.

This star-wheel `is hung, `as. usual, to a pin, a, lig.

, 1, projecting from the frame A, and on the back of,

the wheel is a ratchet-wheel, b, to the teeth of which is adapted the point of a pawl, D, hinged to a pendulous arm, D', and actuated by a cam, d, on the ,driv. ing-shalt B of the loom.

.To suitable bearingslon the frame, are adapted the 'ournals ota shaft E carr'in a cylinder F in which4 .l 2 7 7 1 is cut avspral groovee, so asto form a spiral thread,

` f, in which is aV series .of holesifor receiving detachable pins hg i A block or carrier, G, is arranged to slide on stationary pins i fi, orotller suitable guides, attached' `to the frame, and this "carrier has aprojectiomj, fitting in the spiral groove of the cylinder F.

My invention consists of certain mechanism, de'

An arm, G', is hinged to the top of the carrier'G,

and a projection, L, on this arm, is arranged to bearl on the pins projecting from the spiral thread f of the cylinder, the arm, as the cylinder revolves, following the course of the thread, owing to the aforesaid projection j, of the. carrier, fitting in' the groove between the threads.

This arm G may be connected directly to the pawl I) by a cord or wire, or the pawl may be connected,

by a cord, -1 to an arm h, hinged, at one end, to the frame, and resting, at the other end, on the said arm G', seen in iig. 1 of the drawing.

A vibrating lever, I, has a-pin, m, adapted to suit` able' bearings in the frame A, and to the upper short arm of this lever is secured a horizontal pin, n., to

which is hung and on which can traverse' an arm, n', which passes through the block or carrier G, and projects into the groove between the threads f of the cyly inderF.

Nearthe outer end lthis'arm a" is a hook, as best observed on reference to tig. 4, sheet 2, the hook being adapted toiustop, 1), so fitted in the groove c of the cylinder as to be adjustable therein.

There is another stop in the groove of the cylinder, for acting against the end of the arm n', and one stop is situated Vat or near the termination of thev spiral groove at one end of the cylinder, and maybe permanently secured there, while the other stop may be secured at Vthe termination of the'groove at the other end of the cylinder, or may be adjusted to any posi tion in the groove, nearer to or further from theother stop.

v The long lower arm of the lever I passes through a slot in a plate, J, so secured to any permanent part of the frame that it can be moved to and fro therein; to a limited extent, (see iig. 5,) and this platev has two project-ions, q and q', between which passes a plate, K, hinged loosely to a lever, L, which .is arranged to vibrate on a pin, t, and which is actuated by a cam, t', on the driving-shaft B of the loom.

From the upper end of the plate K project, in contrary directions, two arms, w and fw', each so bent at the' end as to be adapted to the teeth of a. wheel, M, secured to the sha-ft E adjacent to the cylinder F.

It will be observed, that the plate K has two in' clina-tionsfx and x', thepurport of which will be renderedapparent hereafter.

This plate K, with its arms n and double reversible pawl.

As the shaft B revolves, a regular and intermittent rotary motion will be imparted to the star-wheel C.

Aslong as the pawl AI) remains depressed, and in a proper position for action ou the ratchet-wheel b at' the back ofthe star-wheel, and as.long as this regular movement 'of the lat-ter continues, the drop-boxes will w', term the rise and fall regularly, precisely as in ordinary dropbox looms for weaving small uniform checks.

lf the pawl D, howeverbe elevated, at irregular intervals, clear of the ratchet-wheel, then the movement of the boxes will be irregular, and thc'pat-teru will have a corresponding irregularity.

The devices, which I have described above, have been designed for the purpose of controlling this starwheel, or other drop-box mechanism, in a manner which I will now proceed to describe.l

rlhe pins are arranged on the' spiral thread f of the cylinder, at such points as the pattern of the fabric to be produced may determine.

As seen in iigs. 2 and 3, the cylinder F has an intermittent revolving motion imparted to it by the rotating cani t, through the medium of the lever L, and double pawl, the arm w of the latter acting on the teeth ot' the wheel M.

As thc cylinder thus revolves intermittently, the pins 7iI on the spiral thread will, whenever they come in Contact with the projection k of the arm G', elevate the pawl D clear of the ratchet-wheel at the back of the star-wheel, when the latter will remain quiescent, unt-il, as the cylinder revolves, a vacancy occurs between the pins, when the pawl will fall, and operate the star-wheel, as before. Hence, it will be seen that. the time during which one shuttle remains in operation will depend upon the disposition of the pins on the spiral thread of the cylinder, or, rather, on the presence or absence of these pins.

Asthe block or carrier G is controlled groove of the cylinder, the arm G' must follow the course of the spirally-arranged pins, so that the latter will continue to act on the arm, and consequently, on the pawl l).

When the cylinder has been so far turned in the direction of the arrow, that one of its stops comes in contact with the end of" the arm n', iig. 4, the pawl which actuates the cylinder will be reversed, as will also the movement of the cylinder itself, in a manner which will be best observed by reference to thc diay grain on sheet 3.

In tig. 3, the cylinder F is still being turned in the direct-ion ofthe arrow, but when the stop pushes the arm n', the latter will, through the medium of the lever I, move thc pla-te J from the position shown in tic. 8 to that seen in iig. 9, and this is all the duty which the stop on the cylinder performs, asregards the reversingr of the pawl. v

This movement ofthe plate J by the stop is cffected while the double pawl is approaching the limit of its upward movement, so that the rela-tive positions ofthe plate andthe pawl, when the latter has reached its highest point, will be those seen in iig. 9, on reference to which, it will be observed that the inclination x ot` the pawl is directly above the projection q of the plate J', so that on the descent of the pawl, this inclined portion a: will strike the projection q', and thc latter will be the means of tilt-ing the pawl over to the position shown vin iig. 10, thus completing what the stop had begun, namely, the reversal of the pawl, and the consequent reversal of the movement of the cylinder.

As the cylinder revolves in a contrary direction to that pointed out by the arrow, the pins will again act on the arm G', and control the pawl D, as before, until .the other stop in the groove of the spiral cylinder,

actingon -the hooked end of the arm n', as `seen in tig. 4, pulls the latter, moves the plate J, and causes the double pawl to be tilted back to its original position, and the cylinder, consequently, be turned in the first direction pointed out by the arrow.

When we take into .account the fact that they pins yby the spiralV control the pattern, and when we consider the length of the thread on which the pins are arranged, and the fact that one-halt' only of the pattern is completed during the revolution ol' the cylinder in one direction, the other hali'bcing completed during the revolution of the cylinder iu the contrary direction, the capacity of the cylinder as a means of producing long patterns will be understood.

Although, by way of illustration, I have shown my invention as applied to the controlling of a common star-wheel for operating drop-boxes, it will be evident, to those familiar' wit-h the construction of'looms of this class, that the reversible cylinder, with its spirallyarranged pins, may be readily applied to other dropbox mechanism.

The cylinder, with its spirally-arranged pins, or the equivalents ot' the pins,may even be used as a direct box-operator.

This will be readily understood by reference tofig. 2, and by supposing thc arm G to be continued outward, as shown by dotted lines, and connected at its outer end, by suitable appliances, to the dropboxes.

The modiiication of my invention, illust-rated in tigs. 6 and 7, is adapted to a special loom known as Jenks wedge-loom.

In this ease, the pins, instead ot' being arranged spirally on a cylinder, are arranged spirally on a disk or annular wheel, N, to which a revolving motion vis imparted, first in one direction and then in the other.

The pins on the face oi' this wheel act on a projection on a small block, Q, which can slide in au opening at the end oi' one arm of a lever, 3, thc block being controlled by the spiral groove between the spiral ribs, into which the pins are iitted.

The long arm ot' the lever 3 is connected to a pendulous arm, 4, so that ythe pins on the wheel will, through the lever, impart a lateral motion to the said arm, to which a vibratingr motion is imparted by a cani on the driving-shaft 5.

The wedge (i, at the end of this arm, operates the drop-boxes of the loom in question, and the lateral position of the arm determines the manner in which they shall be operated.

Claims.

I claiin- I. A cylinder, on which spirally-arranged pins are combined. with a spiral groove, or spiral projecting rib, for laterally controlling the lever, or its equivalent, actuated by the pins. l

2. 'lhe disk, with its pins arranged on a spiral line, in combination with a lever or its equivalent, operatingT in connection with the drop-boxes, substantially as set forth. l

3. The combination of the said disk and pins with a groove or rib arranged on the disk, for controlling the lever, (or a sliding projection on the lat-teu) actuated b'v the pins.

4. rlhe combination ofthe cylinder, its spirally-arranged pins, rib, and cog-wheel, with the double pawl, which is caused to operate in the manner set forth, by the mechanism herein described, or its equivalent.

5. .The said double pawl, in combination with the sliding plate J and its projections q q'.

In testimony whereof', I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

- ARCHIBALD NIMMO.

'itnesscs:

W. W. DoUGnnlrrv, HARRY SMITH. 

